By Staff Reporter

I have heard about the phrase “business unusual” for long enough but it was during the 2014 campaign or prior to that when this phrase was mostly used by politicians of stature who were considered big enough to win that election from Lazarus Chakwera, then in opposition, Joyce Banda the incumbent President, Peter Mutharika and Atupele Muluzi who were both having a go at the Presidency as well.

In the run up to the 2019 disputed election this line resurfaced even President Peter Mutharika, the sitting President at the time in whose tenure was indifferent to the notion of “business unusual”, as he was no different from Bakili Muluzi and his brother Bingu before him joined the choruses gloated this line without an iota of shame. The tune became tired but they continue using it nonetheless because they knew many Malawians will be hooked into believing that they will be different from the leaders of the past.

It was until President Lazurus McCarthy Chakwera assumed the reigns of power that this phrase begun making sense. In the last 24 months of President Chakwera we have witnessed the new ways of doing things especially in respect to fighting corruption. Politicians are good at lip service but those days are long gone.

President Lazarus Chakwera’s commitment to fighting graft is unequalled, there is no casual approach in his way of going about it as it used to be. As a lead figure President Chakwera has been fighting graft on all angles and in those fronts, he has been fighting from the front. In his determination to wipe out the vice.

President Chakwera realized that the fight against graft will amount to nothing if the Ant-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is underfunded and understaffed. This is why we have seen the exponential rise in budgetary allocation to the graft busting body and revamping of its staff capacity for the first time since the ACB was established over twenty years ago.

President Chakwera has constantly preached the need for all Malawians to come together in combating common challenges. Particularly I am always reminded of what he said on 7 May this year at a development rally in Mchinji when he asked Malawians to unite in the fight against different vices affecting our country. This clarion was born out of his belief of a shared responsibilities where everyone is encouraged to take part in finding lasting solutions to our common challenges.

The hosting of the National Anti-Corruption Conference today is exactly what President Chakwera has been advocating: Unity of purpose. The two-day all-inclusive gathering pull together people from diverse background including the private sector, the media, the civil society, the clergy, government agencies and Malawians in general.

The conference which has been jointly organized by the Ministry of Justice and the ACB is reflecting on the theme “Resetting the Nation’s Moral Tone”. This theme augers well with what Malawians have been saying that we are failing to deal with graft because we focus on addressing the symptoms without necessarily dealing the cause.
It appears that some agencies bought into President Chakwera’s call for unity in fighting graft. The case in point is the call by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Steve Kayuni for all the state agencies to work together if the war against corruption is to be won

In a letter to the Director General of ACB Martha Chizuma, Kayuni said no single agency can win against criminality. He said the fight against corruption is always a joint effort regardless of the independence these offices have.
Weighing in the call for unity iat the conference was the renowned visiting public speaker Professor Patrice Lumumba who eloquently said the battle against corruption is not for the President, it is not for ACB alone, it is not for the office of the Director of Public Prosecution and not even for just a single segment of the society but a responsibility of all Malawians.

And what happened during the panel discussion at the conference is what the conference is set out to achieve: inclusiveness. It was encouraging that public figures such as Secretary to the President and Cabinet Collin Zamba representing the Civil Service, Jimmy Lipunga from the Private Sector, Justice Dorothy Kamanga representing the Judiciary and Professor Happy Kayuni from the University of Malawi representing the academia sharing the stage.

During the plenary session we also saw the rare sight of display of diversity when a little-known student from the University of Malawi Gabriel Nyondo contributing to the discussion alongside Moses Mkandawire of Church and Society of CCAP’s Livingstonia Synod and Wakuda Kamanga the Secretary General of the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD).
When President Chakwera promised a ‘’better Malawi” and “Prospering together” he did not see the National Anti-Corruption Conference coming